


Avatar: The Last Airbender

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-22 03:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9581936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What if Avatar was in a different years. Where the Water Lord ruled? Where Sokka had been burnt and banned. Where Zuko never had a scar. Where Azula was never a psychopath. Where Zuko and Azula were Katata and Sokka.Where Zuko and Azula discovered Aang?





	1. The Boy In The Lava

Earth. Water. Fire. Air.

My uncle used to tell me stories about the old days – days of peace, when the Avatar kept the balance between the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Water Tribe attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements – only he could save us from the ruthless Waterbenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years have passed, and the Water Tribe is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and his men journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Water Tribe, leaving me and my brother, Zuko, to take care of our Nation. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and that the cycle was broken.

But I haven't lost hope. I, Azula, still believe that the Avatar will return to save the world.

Book One: Fire

Chapter One: The Boy In The Lava

The small town was much like any other in the Fire Nation – full of red-painted houses and industrial-looking smokestacks. The only thing that distinguished it from any other factory town on the coast, really, was the large volcano that towered over the landscape. Two siblings trudged up its side, searching for an elusive komodo chicken to catch and eat for dinner.

"I think I hear one rustling around behind those rocks," Zuko said hopefully.

"I didn't hear anything," Azula replied, unconvinced. "You know, this is really pathetic. According to Uncle, our ancestors ate like kings in the capital every night. I bet they never had to catch their own food."

"Our ancestors were kings," Zuko laughed. "But that was a hundred years ago. You know as well as I do that since the Water Tribe stole our family's throne, we've pretty much been commoners for generations. Now, we're just factory workers, using our Firebending to heat the coal that makes the machines work, just like everybody else."

"I don't want to be like everybody else," Azula pouted. "I want to be a princess."

"Well, Princess, could you help me find a komodo chicken nest, or are you going to keep standing around?" Zuko asked as he moved aside a small rock. "I think it could be behind here…"

"Zuko, watch out!" Azula cried, but it was too late: the rock Zuko had just shifted had caused an avalanche!

Zuko jumped out of the way of the falling volcanic rock just in time. "Are you ok?" Azula asked.

"I'm fine," Zuko replied. Actually, only a few rocks had fallen. It could have been a lot worse.

"Good," said Azula, "Now just take out your net, and maybe we can still catch something good to eat."

"Or…..not," Zuko frowned.

"What do you mean, not?" Azula blinked. "Do you want to have just rice and Uncle's tea for dinner again?"

"I….may have dropped the net," Zuko confessed. Azula's eyes followed to where Zuko was looking – down the side of Mount Ryu.

"You tossed the net all the way down the hill?" Azula cried. "You idiot! We'll never find it! Now how are we going to get any meat tonight?"

"Well, maybe if you'd been a little bit more helpful…" Zuko protested. "I mean, it's not like you would have cooked it that well even if we'd caught it, despite the fact that you're a girl!"

"UGH!" Azula cried in frustration. "You are the most sexist, useless brother in the Fire Nation!"

Zuko paled as he watched the smoke from the volcano billow dangerously behind his sister. "Um…Azula….maybe you should calm down…."

"No! I won't calm down!" Azula shouted, having a fit. "Ever since Mom left, you've expected me to do all the cooking while you run off playing Navy!"

"A-Azula…." Zuko warned.

"And you make me do all the cleaning when we both get home from the factory! Why should I lower myself like that?" Azula continued, ignoring him. "Do you expect me to be your slave?"

Thicker, blacker smoke wafted down from the summit above them, and Zuko swore he heard the sound of boiling liquid.

"Azula….."

"No!" Azula snapped. "I don't deserve this life! My destiny should have been to be royalty, not your stupid servant! From now on, you are ON. YOUR. OWN!"

As she said this, sparks shot from the volcano's peak, igniting the rocks, which began to fall towards them! Zuko grabbed Azula by the wrist and pulled them both away from the burning stone. They sat behind a boulder, sighing with relief that they were safe.

"Did I do that?" Azula gasped, looking apologetic as she stared at the still-smoldering basalt.

"Yeah, I think you did," Zuko frowned. Cautiously, he peered over the side of the boulder. "Hey….what's that?"

The pile of rocks that had caught fire and rolled down the hill seemed to have been concealing something, which was now visible to the naked eye. It was a perfect sphere of solidified lava, as tall as Zuko was and twice as wide. It was too smooth and large to just be an ordinary part of the landscape – it had to be manmade.

"What is it?" Azula wondered curiously, getting up and walking towards it.

"Hey, Azula, get back here!" Zuko warned. "It could be dangerous!"

But Azula, ignoring him, was already lighting a flame on her fingertips, trying to burn open the side of the sphere. Zuko approached cautiously as Azula continued to blast it with flames a few more times. Finally, she burned away a large enough piece of the lava rock that the rest began to crack. Hot air shot out of the hole, making the siblings take a step back. Then, the rest of the sphere cracked in two, shooting chunks of solidified lava everywhere as a strange, blue light shot into the sky.

Azula's jaw dropped and she grabbed her brother's sleeve protectively as she watched the light continue to rise, like a beacon. Then, she looked at where the sphere had stood, and in its rubble was…..a boy?!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The siblings were not the only ones to see the light. Far off the coast, on the deck of a longboat sailing through the warm waters, a tall boy in regal blue clothing, a tribal wolf headdress, and war paint stared, open-mouthed, at the glowing signal in the sky. "Bato!" he cried. "Do you know what this means?!"

"That I won't get to finish my stewed sea prunes?" sighed a middle-aged man in a blue tunic, looking up from his lunch.

"It means my search is finally over!" the boy replied aggressively. "That light came from a powerful source – it had to be him!"

"It's probably just a mirage," Bato shrugged. "You have been staring at the sea too long. We've been over this, Prince Sokka. I don't want to see you get excited again over nothing. Why don't you just relax and have some nice sea prunes?"

"Forget your prunes!" Sokka cried. He stormed down below deck, where a dozen men were using their Waterbending to steer the ship towards their destination. "Set a course for the light!" he commanded.

Bato frowned.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

When the light began to dissipate, Azula saw she was right – there really was a boy in the lava! Moreover, he was moving towards them, crawling out of the rubble. Azula saw that his head was shaved, and his clothes were not those of a Firebender. Who was he?!

The boy stood. "Get back!" Zuko warned, lighting a fireball in his hand and pointing it at the stranger. The boy looked at him uncertainly…..then fell to the ground in a dead faint.

Azula rushed to grab him. Zuko approached and prodded the unconscious boy with his finger.

"Stop it, Zuzu!" Azula hissed. Her expression softened when the boy moaned softly and opened his eyes. They were grey, she noticed, and he looked about twelve – two years younger than her own age of fourteen (and four years younger than sixteen-year-old Zuko). The boy stared up into Azula's golden eyes as if fascinated by them. She resisted the urge to blush.

"C-can I…ask you something?" the boy muttered weakly.

"What is it?" Azula wondered eagerly.

"Come closer…" the boy implored. Azula obeyed.

"Will…," the boy croaked. Azula leaned closer still, listening intently.

"WILL YOU HELP ME CATCH A FIRE FERRET?" the boy grinned mischievously, sitting up and looking perfectly healthy.

"Uh..very…well," Azula said, taken aback.

"Yaaaay!" the boy cried excitedly, then took a deep breath and…..floated into a standing position somehow.

"How did you do that?" Zuko gasped. "And how did you get inside a ball of solid lava rock, anyway?!"

"I dunno," the boy shrugged. "That's pretty weird. Last I remember, I was riding my…." He paused. "Where is he?"

"Where is what?" Zuko asked. This was already too weird for him.

An animalistic growl sounded from around the corner, where a pile of debris from the lava sphere had fallen. "There he is!" the boy smiled, and ran towards it. "Yay, he's ok!" Cautiously, Zuko peaked around the corner and saw….

"What is that?!"

"This is Appa," the boy explained. "He's my flying bison."

"Your flying what? Impossible," Zuko said skeptically. "Azula, do you believe this?" Appa sneezed on him as if offended. Zuko tried to wipe the snot from his red and yellow tunic, disgusted.

"Do you live around here?" the boy asked curiously.

"Don't answer that," Zuko warned Azula. "He might be a spy from the Water Tribe Armada."

"Yeah," Azula snarked, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure the Water Tribe lets children join the Armada all the time."

"The paranoid one," she continued, "is my brother Zuko. And you never told us your name."

"I'm Aa…," the boy's introduction was interrupted when he sneezed, and suddenly his entire body shot ten feet in the air!

Slowly, he floated back to earth. "I'm Aang," he resumed, unfazed.

"You just sneezed and flew," Zuko recounted, shocked.

"You're…an Airbender, aren't you?" Azula realized, impressed by his power. Aang simply nodded.

"First bright lights in the sky," Zuko complained, "then flying bison, and now Airbenders? None of this makes sense. I refuse to accept it. It's got to be some sort of elaborate hoax. I'm going home, where I can investigate if there's any way the Armada could fake Airbending."

Turning to leave, he realized that the flying rocks had knocked the top layer off the ground beneath their feet, revealing molten lava underneath. It would be impossible to walk through these exposed lava flows.

"If you guys are stuck," Aang offered, "I can give you a lift on Appa."

"That would be most helpful," Azula smiled.

"No way," Zuko protested. "I'm not getting on that….monster."

"That's fine," Azula smirked. "You can just wait here until the lava flow spreads and drips down onto your feet. It's not like you needed those, right?"

Five minutes later, Zuko was on the bison with others, sulking the whole time.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Ok, Appa!" Aang commanded. "Yip, yip!" The bison leaped into the air….and then immediately landed on the ground, less than a meter from the nearest lava flow.

"He's lucky he didn't catch his tail on fire," Zuko sighed. "What's he going to do, jump over all the lava puddles until we're home?"

"No," Aang protested. "He's totally going to fly. He's just tired right now."

"Uh-huh," Zuko said, unconvinced. Turning away from Zuko, Aang stole a glance at Azula and smiled.

"Why did you smile at me?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I…I wasn't smiling," Aang stammered with a blush.

"Uh-huh."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

On the longboat off the coast, Sokka stared into the waves, his parka billowing in the cool night breeze.

"I'm going to bed," Bato announced, yawning. "Every man needs his rest."

Sokka ignored him, his grip on his boomerang. He was itching for the fight he knew was ahead.

"You should rest, too, Prince Sokka," Bato advised.

"Right. Rest," Sokka said sarcastically. "I can totally just rest and relax. It's not like I'm five inches from the thing I've been searching for for years or anything."

"Even if you have found the Avatar," Bato reminded, "you will likely be unable to capture him. Your father, and his father, and his father….they all tried. And failed."

"That's because their honor," Sokka insisted, "their very standing in the tribe – didn't depend on it."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Appa leapt gracefully over another river of lava. Zuko, somehow, had fallen asleep, despite the bumpy ride.

"So," Azula said conversationally, "if you're truly an Airbender, I have a question for you."

"Shoot," Aang smiled.

"Did you know the Avatar?"

"No," Aang said quickly. "I mean, I knew people that knew him, but I, uh, didn't actually know him."

"I see," Azula said, looking disappointed. "I suppose I'll try to get buckled into my sleeping bag before Appa makes his next jump, then."

"Good night," Aang smiled, but the moment Azula turned her back, his expression became stricken with guilt.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Aang awoke to find himself soaring through the air on Appa. Beneath him was the sea, and beyond that, the coast of the Fire Nation. Suddenly, the wind picked up as lightning flashed through the sky. He realized he was being blown off course. He tried desperately to grab the reigns and steer himself in the right direction, away from the land. He screamed when the wind pulled the reigns right out of his hands – it seemed to be trying its best to pull him bodily from the saddle, as well.

"Appa!" he cried. "We've got to turn right!" The faithful bison tried his best, but the wind was relentlessly pulling them left. The coast and its sharp rocks drew closer. They were going down, down….He gasped in fear as the wind pushed them nearer to the mouth of a volcano. If this storm dumped them in there, they would melt to nothing in seconds!

He saw the magma boiling crimson as they continued to fall towards it. He had to get away before they hit it! He couldn't regain control of Appa, who roared in fear as they began to fall so dizzingly fast that he was close enough to feel the volcano's heat…

No!

His eyes glowed white as the wisdom of lifetimes took him over, and suddenly he was spinning the magma out of the volcano around them, and it solidified like a shield to protect them from the searing heat. But he was still falling….

The last thing he remembered was the lava rock encasing his face like a tomb.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Aang! Wake up!" cried a feminine voice, and Aang woke up, gasping for breath, in a steel bed with a bright red quilt. Out the soot-stained window, he could see someone's chimney, billowing smoke. When he looked to the other side of the room, he saw Azula standing beside a small fireplace.

"We're back in town now," she explained. "This is my family's apartment. Please, come downstairs – this is a pretty small town, so everybody has heard what happened by now. They're all waiting to meet you."

She tried not to stare when he stood, revealing blue arrow tattoos spiraling down his body.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Zuko leaned against the wall of the apartment building, warming his hands apathetically in the brazier beside him, as Azula dragged Aang out the sliding door.

A crowd of people clad in red and yellow stood waiting for them beneath the pagoda of the town square.

"These are all the townspeople," Azula introduced. "All the townspeople, Aang."

"Why are they staring at me?" Aang asked self-consciously.

"Well," said a short, stout, old man, taking a sip from a lotus-print tea cup, "Nobody has seen an Airbender in a hundred years. We'd thought they'd gone extinct until my niece and nephew found you."

"A….hundred years?" Aang repeated. It couldn't be.

"Aang, this is my uncle," Azula introduced. "Iroh."

"You can call me Uncle, too, if you'd like," the old man smiled happily. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"No thanks," Aang said politely.

"Don't be so welcoming to him, Uncle," Zuko called out from the corner. "I still say he's a spy. What's this you're carrying?" he asked, stomping over and grabbing the staff Aang carried. "A weapon?"

"This isn't for fighting," Aang shook his head, wondering why Zuko was so suspicious of him. "It's for flying!"

He opened the staff, revealing bright orange kite wings. Grabbing the handles, he pushed the glider onto his back and took to the air, soaring like a bird. Zuko's jaw dropped. A spy couldn't fake that.

The children laughed and chased him from the ground as he flew past them overhead – right until he flew into a string of lanterns, entangling himself. "Oof!" He was lucky he hadn't knocked any of the candles out of their bright paper containers.

Azula rushed to help extricate him from the string, while Zuko hung back and rolled his eyes.

"So you are an Airbender," he accepted. "But it's obvious you're just a rookie. Great. Azula is a rookie when it comes to Firebending, too. So, out of the three of us, it looks like I'm the only one who has a clue how to control his Bending abilities."

"You're both Firebenders?" Aang asked excitedly.

"Well…somewhat," Azula clarified. "Uncle says I'm a natural, but Zuko is the only one who was old enough to have a chance to learn from our father. I definitely would be more skilled by now if I'd been able to study with him."

"Speaking of studying," Iroh interrupted, "Azula, you have homework to do. Come with me."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"He's the real thing, Uncle!" Azula said, excitement in her voice, as they walked back up the stairs to their apartment. "I may have finally found a Bender to teach me the skills I need."

"I offered to teach you many times, Azula," Iroh reminded.

"Yes, but you're a pacifist," Azula frowned. "I want to learn the firebending techniques used for war – the kind Father taught Zuko."

"Zuko and I have refused to teach you those for a reason," Iroh protested. "We don't want the little girl we love getting mixed up in all this fighting. It's dangerous."

"But I'm not a little girl anymore!" Azula protested. "I'm a young woman now, Uncle, and I don't need to be protected by you and Zuko anymore. I want to be a warrior, like Father, like -"

"Like your cousin?" Iroh huffed. "War got him killed. Do you remember that?"

Of course Azula remembered. Lu Ten's picture hung in a shrine in their living room, a daily reminder of the casualties the Water Tribe had caused. Azula wanted payback for injustices like the death of Iroh's son – she wanted to take the fight to the Water Tribe instead of sitting here, hoping they wouldn't be attacked.

"Try not to place all your hopes in this boy, Azula," Iroh advised, looking more old and tired than she had ever seen him.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Again," Bato demanded.

"How many times are you going to make me make the same blocking motion with this boomerang?" Sokka growled. "Like I'm going to block the Avatar to death. I need to learn how to go on the offensive with it. Teach me the next step – how to attack!"

"Being a warrior in this tribe is not all about being able to strike hardest," Bato lectured. "It is about which warrior strikes the wisest. A wise warrior does not simply strike first and assume he can vanquish his enemy before he can strike back. He anticipates how his opponent may strike him in return, and is prepared for it. And so….again."

"No!" Sokka insisted. "The shamans tell us that the Avatar's got to be 100 years old now. He's had years and years to master all four elements. I can't even bend one element, in case you hadn't noticed. If a nonbender like me is going to fight him, I need to use all the physical strength I can."

"Battles are not won solely by strength," Bato reminded.

"I don't care! As Prince of the Water Tribe, I command you to teach me the attack!"

"Fine," Bato conceded. "After I finish my seal jerky."

Sokka smacked his hand to his head in frustration.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Zuko stared at the group of small boys who had gathered in the teahouse his uncle owned, still in their school uniforms. It was time for after-school Firebending practice.

"Firebending comes from the breath," he lectured seriously. "Breath in, and turn that into energy. Your energy, your Bending, is the last line of defense this town has in case of a Water Tribe attack now that our fathers are away. You must devote yourself to the art of Bending, and in so doing become men your fathers would be proud of. Do you understand?"

The shortest boy raised his hand.

"Yes?" Zuko acknowledged professionally.

"Ok, but, like, how do we use Firebending to cool our tea?"

Zuko's face fell.

"Your uncle's tea is really good," another boy added. "Does he have any snacks to go with it?"

"We mostly just came because you said there would be snacks," another boy confessed.

"Did someone say snacks?" Aang grinned, appearing suddenly from around the corner. "I helped Uncle make sticky buns! Who wants some?"

"Me! Me!" the children cried, getting up from the booth where they sat and crowding around Aang.

"When you're done, wanna play with my flying bison?" Aang offered.

"Yeah!" the children cried, and ran outside with sticky fingers to go pet the furry beast.

"AUGH!" Zuko cried. "Azula, he's got to go!"

Azula, wearing her waitress uniform (she had to help Uncle out today, since there were so many customers) looked at Zuko quizzically. "Why?"

"This lesson was for Firebenders only," he protested. "Aang keeps distracting them. We don't have time for fun and games when there's a war going on."

"What war?" Aang asked from the open doorway with a confused expression. "What are you talking about?"

"Is that a joke?" Zuko scoffed.

Aang looked concerned for a moment. Then, something on the neighbor's roof caught his eye. "FIRE FERRET!"

And then suddenly he was floating up to the rooftop chasing after it, and was gone.

"Was he trying to be funny?" Zuko asked Azula again after the boy disappeared from sight.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

A bemused Azula climbed up the fire escape of the abandoned building on the edge of town. When she got to the roof, she saw a dozen of the fire ferrets that tended to build their nests here. They were squeaking and darting about all over the place – and Aang was fruitlessly trying to scoop them all into his arms.

"Every time I think I caught one, they jump away!" he noticed. "They're so fast!"

Azula chuckled. "I'll make you a deal," she offered. "I'll help you catch a fire ferret if you teach me Firebending."

"Sure," Aang agreed. "But…..there's one problem. I'm an Airbender, not a Firebender. Isn't there anyone else in town who could teach you?"

Azula shook her head. Every able-bodied Firebender in town had left to go fight in the war – the only benders who had stayed behind were Uncle (because he was too old), and the children (who were too young), including Zuko and herself. And Uncle refused to teach her the bending moves she really wanted to know. Zuko only had the barest grasp of said moves himself. There was no teacher here who could give her the power to defend herself and her people that she craved.

"That's not right," Aang frowned. "You should be able to learn any Firebending techniques you want." He thought for a moment. "What about the Fire Nation capital? If there are any really powerful Firebending teachers anywhere, it's probably there."

"Maybe," Azula said contemplatively, staring out at the setting sun from their high vantage point. One could see the whole town from here. "I mean, my ancestors lived in the capital once. But nobody in my family has even visited there for a hundred years. And it's not as if it's just next door, you know? It's on the other side of the Fire Nation."

"That's true," Aang nodded. "But, you forget I have a flying bison. I can personally fly you to the Nation's capital. Azula, I can find you a Master!"

"I don't know," Azula hesitated. "I've never left town before." She had Uncle to think about….could he run the teahouse without her, and get by without the money she brought home from her factory job? He was so old now. Besides…she loathed to admit it, but she was afraid of the unknown.

"You can think about it," Aang said understandingly. "In the mean time, will you help me catch one of these? I wanna hug it!" He tried to grab at a fire ferret's tail, but by the time he moved, it was already halfway across the rooftop.

"Of course," Azula smiled. "Listen, my young pupil: the catching of fire ferrets is an ancient and sacred art. Observe." She pulled a meat bun from Uncle's teahouse from her pocket and tore it into pieces, throwing the pieces at Aang's feet. Immediately, all the fire ferrets on the roof rushed toward him excitedly, bowling him over and crawling all over him. He laughed and scooped as many into his arms as he could, embracing them tightly before letting them scurry away with their treats.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Azula and Aang lept in a parkour-like fashion from rooftop to rooftop after the fire ferrets, scrambling over fire escapes and ladders in their quest to catch and pet another. Azula found herself laughing, in spite of herself. "I haven't done this since I was a kid," she confessed.

"You still are a kid," Aang reminded as they scurried up a clocktower before vaulting onto the top of a pagoda. They grabbed a fire ferret before it could scamper away and climbed down with it to the ground, where they began petting it and feeding it more pieces of meat bun before they finally set it free.

It was then that Azula realized where they were. They were on the outskirts of town, near the coastline, far from the bustling plaza where most of the townspeople spent their day. Uncle had warned her not to come out here alone.

"Whoa….what is that?" Aang gasped. Azula followed his gaze until she saw it, and her expression darkened. It was the ruins of a wooden ship, with blue tribal symbols on it in fading, chipped blue paint and carvings of spirits leering eerily from the damaged prow.

"It's a Water Tribe Armada ship," Azula explained, "and a very bad memory for my people."

Aang approached it cautiously. "Aang, stop," Azula warned. "We're not supposed to go in there. It could be booby-trapped."

"If you want to be a bender," Aang advised, "you have to let go of fear."

'I'm not afraid of anything!" Azula said hotly. I'm not like Zuzu.

"Then, come on," Aang smiled. Reluctantly, she followed him into the wreck.

They walked through the area below-deck, where the wooden planks were starting to warp and rot. They turned into a room Azula supposed was an armory. It was filled with boomerangs and spears made of bone, machetes with whale teeth attached to the dull side of the blade, spikes one attached to icebergs to disable incoming ships and jars of intimidatingly bright war paint.

"This place has haunted my people since Uncle was a little boy," Azula explained mournfully. "These weapons were used as part of the Water Tribe Armada's first attack."

"Whoa, back up," Aang said, looking panicky. "I have friends all over the world, including the Water Tribe. I've never seen any war."

"Aang…." Azula whispered, realization dawning on her. "How long were you in that ball of lava rock?"

"I don't know….a few days, maybe?" Aang guessed.

"I think it may have been closer to….a hundred years," Azula said, herself shocked.

Her shock was nothing compared to Aang's. "No way!" he protested. "It can't be! Do I look like a 112-year-old man to you?!"

"Think about it," Azula insisted. "The war is a century old. Yet you don't know about it….because you were in that rock, like a fossil, that whole time."

Aang gasped and fell to his knees. "No….."

"But, perhaps there is some good in all of this," Azula said comfortingly.

"I got to meet you," Aang realized.

Another rare smile escaped Azula's lips.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Aang, we should leave," Azula warned. "This place is out of bounds for a reason."

Just as she said that, Aang's foot struck a trip wire, causing water, which had been kept in a small clay pot all these many years, to shoot through a system of pipes and up out of the top of the boat, like a geyser.

"Uh oh," Aang gulped. "Don't worry, I'll get us out of here!" He scooped Azula up into his arms and flew with her through a hole in the floor, leaping down through a crack in the bottom of the boat and descending the dune of red, volcanic sand on which the boat rested.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Miles from the shore, Sokka watched them from his telescope. "The Last Airbender," he noted with a hint of grudging respect. "He's pretty agile for an old dude." He turned to face a Water Tribe brave in a sky blue parka. "Go get Bato's butt out of bed," he commanded, "Tell him I've found the Avatar!"

He turned his telescope to the red pagoda roofs of the town. "And his hiding place."


	2. The Courage of The Avatar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Azula rescue Aang.

Water. Earth. Fire. Air.

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. But everything changed when the Water Tribe attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years past and my brother, Zuko, and I discovered the new Avatar, an Airbender named Aang. He has a lot to learn before he can save anyone. But I, Azula, believe Aang can save the world.

Book One: Fire

Chapter Two: The Courage of the Avatar

Zuko's eyes followed the geyser of water as it shot up in the distance. It gushed so far into the air that it was highly visible even above the high red pagodas of the industrial Fire Nation town. He scowled.

He watched as Aang and Azula trudged past the bright torii gates of the town and down the red-clay street until they met him under the light of the many lanterns hanging above. "I knew it," he growled. "You're trying to send a signal to the Water Tribe Armada, aren't you?!"

"Zuzu, don't be ridiculous," Azula snapped. "Aang did nothing of the sort."

"There was this booby trap," Aang tried to explain, "And I didn't mean to set it off, but…"

"I don't want to hear it," Zuko interrupted aggressively.

"Azula," Iroh scolded, stepping into the lantern light, "I warned you not to seek the path of confrontation. You are an innocent young girl, and you have no idea of the danger outside the town walls. You have no idea of the danger you have put us all in."

"You think I don't know what the Water Tribe is capable of?" Azula shot back. "I'm the one who saw what happened to M…"

"It's not Azula's fault, ok?" Aang interjected. "I'm the one who brought her there. It's my fault."

"So you admit to your treason?" Zuko said harshly.

"It's not treason!" Azula protested.

"No, you're right," Zuko said, his scowl deepening. "To commit treason, you have to a citizen of the Fire Nation. He's an outsider. As your brother and the acting mayor now that Father's away, I demand that you step away from the enemy!"

"The enemy?!" Azula repeated, furious. "What makes you think you can tell me what to do? Because I'm just a girl, is that it?"

"Fine, I won't tell you what to do," Zuko scoffed. "But I will tell this…interloper what to do: leave. You are hereby banished from this town."

"Banished?" Azula repeated again. "What gives you the authority to…"

"I told you, Father put me in charge!" Zuko snapped, reddening. "He told me to protect you from threats like him."

"Father knew when he made you acting mayor that you would do whatever Uncle told you to do," Azula replied. "Uncle, do you agree with this madness? Tell Zuko he's being foolish! Aang has brought something to this town that we haven't had in so long: freedom! You all just cower behind the walls, slaving away in the factories like the Water Tribe tells you to do, afraid to do anything or go anywhere! Tell me you don't want to live controlled by fear anymore!"

"Azula," Iroh replied coldly, "you knew that I warned you to never go to that place, for your own safety. You think you're entitled to do whatever you want, like you're a princess, but you can't. I give you these rules for a reason. Zuko is right. I think it's best that the Airbender leave."

Azula cried out in rage and hurled a bolt of fire at the ground to vent her frustrations. She knew Uncle would take it as evidence that she was letting her emotions control her Bending again, but she didn't care. "If you banish Aang," she seethed, "then you banish me, as well! Come, Aang, let's leave this place! I've wasted enough of my life here already!"

"Where do you think you're going?" Zuko asked.

"To our Nation's capital!" Azula announced. "Aang is going to find me a Firebending master who will teach me how to face the Water Tribe instead of hiding from them like you!"

Zuko stared at her, stunned. "Would you really choose this stranger over your family?"

"Azula," Aang said softly, frowning. "I don't want to come between you and your family. You've been screaming at each other ever since we got back. I know that Firebenders have hot tempers, but…this isn't right."

"So…you intend to simply leave?" Azula replied, disappointed. "This is farewell?"

"Thank you for catching fire ferrets with me," Aang said gratefully.

"That's not an answer! Where will you even go from here?"

"I guess I'll go back home and look for the other Airbenders," Aang supposed. "Wow…I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."

How could he look so positive while giving up so easily? Azula thought, suddenly angry. I thought he was different than everyone here – someone like me, who would fight for what he believed in. I guess he's just another coward, like Zuzu and Uncle and everyone else.

"Go on," Zuko said coldly. "Fly away, Airbender." He didn't believe the bison was even capable of flying. It would defy the laws of physics for such a large creature to do so. The boy was probably just a spy trying to pull off a hoax, after all.

"Come on, Appa, you can do it," Aang encouraged, pulling the reins of his bison, who had trudged over when he heard the raised voices. "Yip yip!" The bison lumbered away on the ground, slow and stubborn as a rhinoceros mule.

The bangs that fell from either side of Azula's high bun danced in the warm night breeze as she watched him slowly fade into the distance, her pride the only thing keeping her from bursting into tears.

"There there, Azula," Iroh soothed, pulling a small tea kettle out of the folds of his robe. "You'll feel better once you've had some tea and…."

His comment turned into a gasp as Azula knocked the kettle to the ground, sending shards of shattered porcelain and splatters of hot jasmine tea everywhere. Her sorrow had quickly turned to fury.

"Are you happy now?!" she cried. "There goes my last chance of ever bringing honor to our family as a Firebender, or reclaiming our rightful throne! Of ever learning what I need in order to avenge Lu Ten and Mother!"

Iroh looked away sadly as Azula stormed off. Was honor really worth risking everything for?

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Alright!" Zuko commanded the children. "The Water Tribe could be at the town gates any moment now. I want all Firebenders prepared to fight!"

"If we do it, can we have some of your uncle's…"

"NO TEA!"

"How 'bout snacks?"

"AUGH!"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Aang sat on a dune of red, volcanic sand beside his faithful bison, looking miserable. "I miss her already," he confessed to Appa. He barely knew the elegant and untamable Firebender girl, but he still longed to be able to stay with her. "But…..what am I supposed to do about it?" he sighed with a moping look.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, in the distance, he saw something in the warm ocean water: a long, wooden boat with dark blue sails, with the symbol of waves and the moon painted on them in white. The flag of the Water Tribe. Aang gasped, his heart pounding in his ears as he immediately thought of Azula and her family.

"I have to warn the town!"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In his small room in the apartment above the teahouse where several candles burned in the darkness, Zuko apprehensively put on the bloodred metal chest plate from the set of armor that was his family heirloom, from the days when his family had once been royal warriors. Azula had a point, he realized. They used to be fighters, feared across the Four Nations for their Firebending prowess. Now, they were….nobodies, doing menial and insignificant labor in a small and insignificant town. He supposed he understood why Azula craved so much more out of life. But, he worried that fighting for more would leave him with no life in his body whatsoever. No matter…..it's too late now, he thought, strapping on his red combat boots. If I have to fight, I want to fight for her, he decided, slipping on the bracers and shoulder guards of the suit of armor and, finally, with a determined look, the helmet that, in another life, could have struck fear in the hearts of many. "Look out, Water Tribe," he whispered as he blew out the candles and stood in the smoky darkness, inhaling the dying fire's strength. "I'm ready for you."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

A few miles off the coast on his ship, Sokka was preparing for battle as well. Attendants helped him dress in seal leather armor adorned with gull feathers, paint his face in intimidating black and white, blessed him with the power of their tribal deities, and sharpened his boomerang on the whetstone. Tonight, he hoped it would taste the blood of the Avatar.

I've finally found him, he thought to himself. Tonight it will finally all be over. After tonight, I can finally go home. He could almost feel the familiar iciness of the South Pole that he hadn't seen in years. Soon.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Iroh heard the rumbling first. His teacup shook on the table before toppling completely. "Zuko!" he cried, panic in his eyes. "Azula!" The rumbling grew worse and then, finally, the ground broke open, tile from the teahouse floor flying everywhere as water gushed from the hole. Iroh rushed up the stairs as water begin to fill the bottom level of the building. He looked out the soot-stained window and saw that the streets below were already beginning to flood. Children ran for shelter as the water reached their ankles, their knees. It was rising so fast. "They're here," the old man gasped. The Water Tribe had come for them at last. He'd thought he could avoid it, by keeping his niece and nephew out of the war, refusing to teach them techniques for battle or let them leave the safety of the walls. Now, he wished he had taught them everything, if only so they could survive the night. His eyes widened in panic as he saw the wave, high as a tsunami, roaring towards the town. Why had he thought he could stop this?

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Azula pulled Zuko up onto the fire escape just before the waves could go over his head. He was soaking wet and shivering. In his heavy armor, he would surely have drowned if she hadn't been there to save him. Together, they watched helplessly as an imposing young man in the garb of a Water Tribe warrior stepped down the flooded street towards them, flanked by braves in blue parkas who parted the waves for him so that he could pass. His cold blue eyes alighted upon the wet Firebender siblings and he smirked.

Zuko wasted no time. Raging, he immediately launched himself off the fire escape and hit the water with a splash. He burst above the surface and leapt onto the thin strip of solid ground the Waterbenders had created. Screaming, he threw a ball of fire at the Water Tribe prince. The warrior effortlessly blocked the fire with his boomerang before striking Zuko in the head with the flat side of his blade. Azula gasped as she watched her brother fall to the ground, moaning in pain. Was this what Uncle had feared?

"Where the heck are you hiding him?" the Water Tribe teen asked. Azula remained defiantly silent.

The young man threw his boomerang, which went wizzing past Azula's ear and struck Iroh, who had just burst onto the rooftop, looking for his niece and nephew, and sent him toppling off into the floodwaters. The young man lifted the old man, choking and spluttering, from the spray, and reiterated, "You might recognize him. Y'know, about this age. Master of all four elements. Ring any bells?"

He shoved Iroh back into the water. The old man, fortunately, quickly swam towards the fire escape and climbed back up. "Come on, I know you're hiding him," the water warrior sighed. "Tell me where he is," he threatened, "Or I'll have my men let go of the tsunami wave they're holding right on your shoreline and let it wash right over this town, wipe all of you off the map. You want that? No. I don't think so. Personally, I'm betting you'd like to keep the map just the way it is. So do the smart thing and just give me the Avatar. Now."

Zuko's gold eyes blinked open as the stunning the water prince had given him wore off. Immediately, he leapt back up and charged the young man again, shooting a long tendril of flame at him this time. The tribal warrior dodged effortlessly as his minions doused the flames. Then, he threw his boomerang at Zuko, striking him in the head again. He fell, a bloody gash appearing on his forehead this time. But, as the boomerang went hurtling back towards its owner, Zuko hit it with a ball of fire, causing it to ricochet off course and disappear into the waters. The water prince gasped comically.

"For honor!" a small child cried from a rooftop cattycorner to the one where Azula and Iroh stood, and rained a lick of fire down on the head of the Water Tribe leader. Zuko beamed proudly. But, one of the Water Tribe goons set water to the flames again, snuffing them. Zuko ran, fire blazing in both hands, at the Water Lord's son again, but the young man calmly dodged once more, and, for good measure, punched Zuko square in the face. Blood dripped from Zuko's nose as he fell back once more.

Just then, the boomerang finally came flying back out of the water (how?!) and struck its owner, who had not expected his weapon's ability to return to work so well, in the back of the head. He, too, fell with an ungraceful "Oof!" The child on the other rooftop laughed.

The Water Tribe prince glared and rose, and raised his now-returned boomerang to strike Zuko again – this time, fatally. But, before he could, Aang came soaring out of nowhere on his glider and dropped an angry fire ferret on the enemy prince, causing him to jump back and cry out in pain as the ferret began to bite him. He scrambled to get the sharp-clawed animal off of his body. Aang laughed at the sight and helped a bewildered Zuko up off the ground. "Aang is back!" the child cried out joyfully. "Hooray!"

Azula's eyes shined with relief. The fire ferret scampered away as Aang blithely greeted, "Hi, Azula! Hi, Zuko!"

"Um….hi?" Zuko blinked, looking embarrassed that he'd needed a rescue but grateful that it had come.

The Water Tribe warrior stood, seething as blood from bite and claw marks dripped down his cheek, smearing his war paint. Beneath it, for the first time, Azula noticed a large and nasty-looking scar. The water prince gave the signal to his men – their faces shrouded by light blue, fur-lined hoods and navy blue scarves that covered half their face, red tribal symbols painted on their foreheads – who unsheathed long ivory spears with wicked sharp whale teeth on their ends. They stepped closer to Aang and Zuko menacingly, nearly causing the two boys to step back into the waves. They pointed the spears at them. They were surrounded.

Aang immediately decided to take action. He blew the remaining clay of the small, dry part of the street into the men's faces, temporarily blinding them before driving them back with a strong gale.

"No way – you're the Airbender?!" the water warrior gasped. "A shrimpy little bald kid like you is the Avatar?"

Zuko and Azula's jaws dropped. Impossible. "The….Avatar?"

"You've gotta be kidding me," the prince continued. "I spend years training, meditating, expecting this big old elderly element master, and instead I get a little kid?"

"Well I wasn't expecting the captain of a Water Tribe ship to be just a teenager," Aang countered. Then, he soared into the air to dodge as the boomerang came flying at his face. He successfully evaded the thrown weapon, but, in the process, it nearly struck Azula before hurtling back to its owner. Aang's face fell.

"If I go with you," he asked uncertainly, "will you leave these people alone?"

The prince nodded as two of his minions ripped Aang's glider out of his hand and dragged him towards the ship. "Aang, no!" Azula cried. "We aren't worth this!" I thought he was a coward, Azula thought ruefully, but he's braver than all of us – willing to sacrifice his freedom for our own. He really was different.

Aang stole one last, longing look at Azula's stricken face as they dragged him away. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back!" he called. She saw the fear in his grey eyes as the Water Tribe men shot off on a wave back to the deck of their ship. The flood waters began to recede, as promised, from the streets. As solid ground became visible, Azula shot down from the fire escape towards the ship, but she was too late.

"Set a course for the South Pole!" Sokka commanded his servants. "Time for me to go home."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The townspeople mopped up the remaining puddles and debris, all frowning silently to themselves.

"Aang saved this town," Azula told the bandaged Zuko as they stood in the still-damp street. "Now, the only honorable thing to do is to repay him by saving him."

"Azula, I…." Zuko began.

"Why can you not see that he is our ally?" Azula continued, paying no attention to her brother. "He has the courage and power that you boys, left over when the men of the town left, lack!"

"But Azula, I….."

"We cannot shame our clan by refusing to repay this life-debt!" Azula went on, unabated. "I know you don't like Aang, but…."

"AZULA!" Zuko cried at last. "Let's leave already, then," he smiled, and Azula turned to see that he held the reigns of a mongoose lizard with a saddle for two. Azula knew from her studies that mongoose lizards could run across the surface of water. She beamed at her brother, emotion in her face. "Zuko….."

"Climb on," Zuko smiled back and helped her up into the saddle before mounting the beast himself.

"Where do you think you're going?" chided an elderly voice, and a soggy Iroh appeared from around the corner. The two siblings froze, knowing they were caught.

"You're going to need these," Iroh smiled warmly, to their utter shock, handing them two thermal blankets with a pattern of the Fire Nation flag on them. "You showed me I was wrong," he confessed to Azula. "I wanted to believe that we could keep the peace by ignoring the war brewing just outside our borders. But, the war has come to us, and now it is time to fight for what he hold dear. I have faith that this a fight you can win, my dear Firebender girl." He reached up and patted Azula's head paternally.

"And you, my brave Firebender boy," he told Zuko, "I trust you will protect your sister on her journey."

"I will," Zuko vowed, hugging his uncle goodbye with uncharacteristic affection.

"Azula," Iroh offered final words of wisdom, "you and Zuko found the Avatar for a reason. Now, your destinies are intertwined with his." Gold met gold as the siblings stared at each other, uncertain what this meant.

"We're not going to catch a longboat with a mongoose lizard," Azula said finally. Then, she saw Appa trudge up the street, knocking the lanterns with his horns, and was struck with an idea.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"My dad will be totally impressed with me when I bring this home for his trophy wall," Sokka boasted to the chained Aang. "But I guess you wouldn't know about dads, being raised by monks and all that." He shrugged.

"Take the kid to the cargo hold!" he commanded his men. He tossed the staff flippantly to Bato. "And take that to my quarters, okay?"

Bato raised an eyebrow as Aang was dragged roughly below deck.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Bet you've never fought an Airbender before, huh?" Aang chattered to the hooded men forcing him down the wooden corridor at spearpoint. "I bet I could take both of you guys with my hands behind my back."

"Shut up," the first hooded man growled.

Aang took a deep breath and blew the men down the corridor before soaring back to the top deck and racing into the officers' quarters.

"The Avatar has escaped!" the second hooded man sounded the alarm, dazed.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Appa swam through the warm coastal waters sluggishly. Zuko wasn't disappointed – to be disappointed, he would have had to have expected something different. He knew it was impossible for a bison to fly.

"Come on, you useless beast!" Azula cried, growing frustrated. "Don't you want to save your master?"

"Try talking a little nicer to it," Zuko suggested. "What did the kid say? 'Yee haw'?"

"No, that's not it," Azula grumbled. "What was it?"

"Yip….yip?" Zuko said uncertainly. Suddenly, the bison soared into the air!

"You did it, Zuzu!" Azula gasped.

Zuko tried to pick his jaw up off the floor. "He's flying," he said dumbly, in shock. "He's….actually flying."

"Told you!" Azula smirked triumphantly. She laughed as they flew higher and faster into the sky.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"You haven't seen my staff, have you?" Aang grinned at two more hooded men before surging past them. "Thanks anyway!"

Another hooded men shot a wall of water at him, but he flew over it and knocked the man into the puddle. He began flying through the ship, searching desperately for his staff. Behind one door, he found Bato snoozing in his navy sleeping bag, hand still wrist-deep in a bowl of sea prunes. "Sorry," Aang whispered before continuing on his search. At last, he spotted his staff behind a half-open door. Thanking the spirits for his luck, he hurtled into the room at top speed to grab it.

"Gotcha," Sokka smirked, slamming the door behind him. Aang gasped. "Looks like I underestimated you, kid," the Water Tribe prince chuckled, and threw his boomerang towards the Airbender.

Aang ducked just in time, but the boomerang flew swiftly back to it's owner, who was already preparing to strike again. Backed into a corner, Aang dropped to his knees and blew the boomerang away. Sokka quickly reached to grab it and made a wide strike towards Aang. Aang escaped by ducking through the opening in the prince's stance. Sokka growled angrily when he realized the Avatar was now behind him, before changing positions and swinging the boomerang again. Again, Aang evaded him. How was the boy so fast? Sokka wondered furiously. He had trained for too long to let the Avatar slip through his fingers!

He kicked at the Avatar this time, and his blow struck the boy in the stomach before he was able to evade more strikes by climbing onto his air scooter. Aang sped in circles around the prince, who continued to slash at him, almost nicking his ear. Finally, Aang sped to the corner of the room and grabbed the staff he had come for, using it to knock Sokka to the ground before Airbending him into the ceiling and then roughly back down. Sokka lay on the ground, his head cut from where it had met the wooden roof. He watched in fury and self-loathing as the Avatar darted out the door.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Aang shot past the area of the lower deck where a dozen Waterbenders sweated with the effort of pulling the boat through the waves, like galley slaves. He made it to the upper deck of the ship without any of the Waterbenders catching him, but then, just as he was about to fly away on his glider, Sokka appeared and tackled him to the ground, raising his boomerang to strike.

Just at that moment, Appa flew over the top of the ship's blue sails, Azula and Zuko on his back.

"What the heck is that?" the prince cried. His distraction gave Aang just enough time to unpin himself from beneath the older boy and run to the edge of the deck. Sokka threw his boomerang at him again, and he dodged, but he narrowly avoided tumbling off the side of the ship in the process. Sokka struck once more, and Aang parried with his staff. The strikes continued, relentless, and Aang wondered how much longer he could hold them back.

When the prince struck next, Aang leapt back too far, and this time he did fall into the waves!

"Aang!" Azula cried as the Airbender suck deeper and deeper beneath the surface.

No! Aang thought to himself desperately. Not again!

Suddenly, his eyes glowed white with the wisdom of millennia and he suddenly had all the oxygen he needed, because he was shooting out from the waves on a comet-trail of fire. He threw white-hot flames at Sokka, who shot back instinctually, fearing burns, so much that he tumbled off his own ship into the drink, as well. Aang's feet touched the wood of the deck, and it began to burn as the blaze still surged around him. The fire spread quickly as the oaken ship began to crumble in on itself and its crew rapidly jumped over the side to save their lives. They were all fine – but the ship would surely burn to ash. Sokka breached the surface of the water and watched in shock and rage as his men swam in retreat.

Aang crumpled suddenly, the glow leaving his eyes, and fell into a dead faint. Azula reached out a hand from her perch on the bison and pulled the unconscious Aang off of the blazing ship. "That was some serious Firebending," Zuko marveled as his sister buckled the boy into the security of the saddle.

Aang's grey eyes slowly blinked open as they hovered there above the shipwreck. "Hey, Azula," he said weakly. "Hey, Zuko."

"Thank the spirits you are unharmed," Azula whispered to Aang, tightly gripping his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Aang muttered sleepily.

"It would be dishonorable to not repay the favor of saving a life," Zuko shrugged.

"I lost my staff," Aang murmured anxiously. Was its wood burning in the inferno beneath?

"It's over there," Zuko noticed, pointing to the ocean water below. They flew closer and he bent to pick up the Airbender's lost item. When he lifted it, he found Sokka clinging to the other end, raising his boomerang for one last strike. Zuko hurled a fireball, causing the prince to dive beneath the waves to avoid injury, releasing the staff in the process. "That's the power of the Fire Nation!" Zuko smirked proudly.

Hooded Waterbenders swam towards them and bent the waves higher, trying to splash them off the side of the bison's saddle. Azula summoned a lick of flame, but it quickly fizzled into smoke. "Azula!" Zuko complained. His sister still allowed her emotions to rule her bending, and now her fear had left her powerless.

"I can do this, Zuzu!" Azula snapped, and readied a Firebending stance again. This time, she shot a series of sparks, causing the Waterbenders to swim away to avoid igniting their parkas. Unfortunately, a spark hit Zuko's boot, causing him to have to rapidly tear it off and dunk it into the sea water to put out the fire.

"Hurry up, Zuko!" Azula complained.

"If you could control your Firebending well enough to hit the enemy instead of me, we wouldn't have these problems," Zuko groaned. "I'm the only Bender on this bison that knows how to control his gifts."

He dumped the water from his boot and scrambled back towards the top of the saddle, crying "Yip yip!" before the waterlogged minions of Sokka could strike them with the waves again. They soared away into the sky as an unconscious Bato floated to the surface of the water and groggily opened his blue eyes, bewildered by the sight in the sky above.

"Prince Sokka, why are we in the water?" Bato asked with a confused look. "I swear the ship was here when I started my nap."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Good news for the Water Tribe," Bato laughed, dog-paddling. "The Avatar is a mere boy of twelve."

"Oh, yeah, just a 'mere boy' – it's not like he just did all of this," Sokka cried, grabbing Bato's arm and drawing his attention to the burning shell of their ship. The older man gasped, eyes widening at the extent of the damage. "I'm not gonna underestimate him again."

Sokka called to his men, who were treading water beside him. "Swim to the shore," he demanded, "as soon as you reach it, find wood we can use to rebuild the ship with. It looks like we'll be starting from scratch." His gaze fell on one of the men, who was shivering from exposure to the cold water.

"….After we dry off," he added to the end of his statement, resisting the urge to smack his hand to his forehead again.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"How did you control such vast amounts of power?" Azula cried, impressed, as she, Zuko, and Aang soared above the sea, which sparkled with the light of the setting sun, on Appa. "That was the most amazing Firebending attack I've ever laid eyes on!"

"I don't know," Aang confessed. "I just sort of….did it."

"But," Azula wondered, "why did you not tell us you were the Avatar?" If she were that powerful, she would brag about it from the rooftops, make the cruel Water Tribe learn to fear her and her Bending abilities.

"Because," Aang replied, "I never wanted to be."

"The world has been waiting for the power of the Avatar," Azula protested. "We've been waiting for you to use your gifts to stand up to the Water Tribe and fight for our freedom."

"But I'm not a fighter," Aang sighed. Airbender philosophy made him naturally inclined to non-agression– the exact sort of policy that Azula would label cowardice. "I'm just a kid."

"Well," Azula noted, "according to what I've read, every Avatar, beginning as a kid, traditionally has to master water, then earth, and lastly, fire. But I say forget the traditional order of things. Forge your own destiny, Aang. We're going to the Fire Nation capital – that gives you the perfect opportunity to learn Firebending."

"We can learn it together," Aang realized, smiling.

"And Zuko," Azula pointed out, "we can take vengeance on the Water Tribe for flooding our village, and all the other crimes they have committed against our clan."

"As hesitant as I was to join this war," Zuko admitted, "I think I'd like that – I'd really like that. You were right – an honorable man doesn't hide. He finds the courage to stand and fight."

"So we're in this together," Azula decided.

"Yes," Aang nodded, "but before we do that, we have serious business to attend to here, and here, and here," he said, pointing to various places on the map.

"Here, we'll race carriages pulled by dragon moose – or is it mooses? Meeses? Who cares, it'll be awesome!" the Airbender babbled. "Here, we'll catch messenger hawks and train them to be our best buddies! And here, we'll ride the armadillo bears - they don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!"


	3. The Western Airtemple

"Wait 'til you see the Western Air Temple, Azula!" Aang chattered happily as he packed up the blankets the trio had slept on the night before. "From the outside, it looks like it's hanging upside down on the edge of a cliff – it's really cool!"

"I thought you were born in the Southern Air Temple," Azula replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I was," Aang confirmed, "but that temple is soooo far away from the Fire Nation, and I want to get you to the capital as quickly as possible! Plus – this is a little known fact – the Elders moved me to the Western Air Temple a hundred years ago to hide with the nuns, 'cuz they said it was safer there. So, that's technically the Temple I've been to most recently! It'll be really nice to see it again!"

It made sense, Azula considered, that Aang's guardians had moved him then. They probably saw that war was brewing, and knew that keeping the Avatar in a temple so close to the South Pole was unwise. This relocation would explain a lot – like how Aang had wound up on Mount Ryu, so far from his birthplace. Stilll…..

"It might not be the same as you remembered," Azula warned.

"Well, I guess I'll find out for myself," Aang responded optimistically before stepping over to the corner where Zuko still lay wrapped in his Fire Nation flag blanket. "Come on, Zuko, wake up!" Aang laughed. "I can't put away the last blanket until you get out of it!"

"How can any person be so energetic so early in the morning?" Zuko grumbled. "It's unnatural."

"Come on, Zuzu," Azula teased from her perch on Appa. "I thought Firebenders were supposed to rise with the sun!"

"The sun gives me strength," Zuko conceded, "but some of the caffeine in Uncle's tea would give me far more."

Azula rolled her eyes. "We don't have any tea," she smirked, "but I think that lighting your silly blanket on fire would get you up just as fast." She winked at Aang, who immediately decided to go along with it.

"Oh, no, Zuko, she's seriously going to do it!" Aang lied. "I can totally see her summoning some flames right now! You better get up quick if you don't want to get burned!"

"What? Are you crazy?!" Zuko lept up, dropping the blanket to the ground and getting ready to run for cover. Then, he heard Azula and Aang laughing hysterically.

"No, you're crazy, Zuko, if you think I'd actually set my big brother on fire," Azula laughed. "You're so gullible!"

Zuko looked highly unamused.

"Hey, it got you up," Aang shrugged. "Now, we can go!"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Prince Sokka looked up at the carvings of Tui and La that his men had carved into the bow of their new ship. "I hope the spirits will bring us better luck than last time," he sighed. "We're lucky that the Water Tribe has such fast shipbuilders."

"Indeed," Bato nodded. "Soon, we'll be able to resume our search for the Avatar."

"Sssh!" Sokka hissed. "Ix-nay on the vatar-Ay! Do you want the word to get out, and everybody in the Water Tribe to be looking for…"

"Looking for what?" boomed a familiar voice, and a balding man with long, white whiskers in a regal blue parka stepped towards them.

"Captain Pakku," Sokka recognized.

"It's Commander Pakku now," the old man corrected, before bowing to Bato. "General Bato," he greeted.

"Bato is fine," the younger man smiled.

Pakku nodded. "As you wish," he said politely, "you and the Water Lord's son are always welcome here. What brings you to our colony?"

"This area is known for its fine wood," Bato explained. "We need it for our new ship."

"What happened to your old ship?" Pakku asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Something unbelievable occurred," Sokka replied. "Bato! Tell the commander what occurred!"

"Uh….right," Bato struggled to come up with a lie. "We….crashed….or something."

"Yeah, yeah!" Sokka picked up the falsehood immediately. "We, uh, crashed right into an Earth Kingdom ship!"

"Really?" Pakku gasped. "Well, then, you'll have to tell me all the details so I can file an official report. I'm sure your father will want to hear about the new enemy vessels in the area," he smirked. "Join me for a smoke of ceremonial pipe?"

"We're busy," Sokka declined.

"Prince Sokka," Bato scolded. "It is against the way of the tribe to refuse to participate in the pipe ritual with an elder."

"We would be happy to join you," Bato smiled at Pakku. "I hope the leaves of the sea plum are included in the smoking herbs. It makes the lodge smell just like stewed sea prunes – my favorite."

Sokka scowled, and resisted the urge to hurl his boomerang at Pakku's shiny head.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Zuko was still scowling as he, Aang, and Azula soared through the air on Appa.

"What is the matter?" Azula asked her brother. "Are you still tired?"

"No," Zuko shook his head. "I couldn't find the hair tie for my topknot when I got dressed this morning."

"Oh, that scrap of rag was for your hair?" Aang blinked. "I used it to start the campfire last night."

"You what?" Zuko glared. "A proper topknot is a symbol of Fire Nation royalty! If I can't put my hair up right, I' m not honoring my ancestors!"

"But you said the other day that we are not like our ancestors," Azula shrugged. "We are no longer royalty. We're just like any other member of the Fire Nation. So, why is wearing the hairstyle of the deposed royal family so important to you?"

"It's a symbol of my honor!" Zuko huffed. "Hmph….no wonder the flames looked so majestic last night…."

"Hey!" Aang called, looking at the cliffs that rose in the distance. "It's the Northern Fire Nation mountain range! We're almost to the Temple!"

"Aang…." Azula said seriously. "When we arrive at the Air Temple, I need you to be prepared for what you might see. The Water Tribe is merciless. They forced my mother to flee, to abandon her family in order to spare herself a painful death. Your people…may not be there anymore."

"Even if they had to leave the Temple," Aang insisted, "that doesn't mean they died. If I don't find them at the Western Air Temple, I'll look somewhere else."

"You don't understand," Azula protested.

"No, you don't understand," Aang argued. "The Western Air Temple is built to look it sprouted out of the ceiling, like gravity would make it unapproachable. That optical illusion has kept it safe for centuries. Why should the one century I was gone for be any different?"

Azula held on tight as he decelerated rapidly into the valley beneath, revealing a series of inverted towers like stalactites jutting from the underside of a cliff. The stone structure, which seemed to defy the laws of physics, was huge.

"It's beautiful," Azula gasped.

"It was my home," Aang smiled, "for the last year before I fell into that volcano."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Soon, we will capture Ba Sing Se," Pakku announced, taking a long drag on the ceremonial pipe before exhaling and passing it reluctantly to Sokka. "Then, the rest of the world will fall like dominoes into Water Tribe hands."

"If my dad thinks the whole world is just going to flop into his hands like a fish," Sokka snapped, tearing the pipe roughly from Pakku's grip, "he's been smoking something far more full of crazy than ceremonial pipe."

"Two years has done little to improve your sarcastic tone, I see," Pakku tutted. "So, how goes your search for the Avatar?"

Bato dropped the pipe in shock when Sokka passed it to him. "My bad," he muttered, stooping to pick it up off the lodge floor.

"We haven't found him yet," Sokka told Pakku.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Pakku shrugged. "Even a fool would realize that he must have died by now, along with all the other Airbenders. Unless you have evidence to the contrary?"

"Nope," Sokka lied. "Diddlysquat. Sorry."

"The Avatar is the only threat left to Water Tribe rule," Pakku reminded. "If you still count yourself as a loyal warrior of the Water Tribe, you would tell me any evidence you had of the Avatar's survival, right?"

"Well, there ain't no evidence to tell you about," Sokka shrugged. "Like you said, the Avatar probably died a bazillion years ago."

So informal, Pakku thought, scandalized. The young prince continues to show such rebellion.

"Whatever," Sokka shrugged, standing. "Come on, Bato, let's go."

Two braves in war paint pointed boomerangs at the prince's chest when he tried to leave the lodge.

"Commander!" a third brave announced, coughing from the thick smoke in the air as he entered the room. "We interrogated the crew, as you requested. They confirmed that Prince Sokka had the Avatar in custody, but allowed him to escape."

Sokka scowled deeply.

"Do tell me again, Your Highness," Pakku smirked, "how you lost your ship."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Aang, Azula, and Zuko walked down the steps that made entering the seemingly unbreachable Western Air Temple possible. Aang bowed reverently to a statue of Avatar Yangchen (who had been born at this Temple centuries ago) as he passed it, but Zuko continued to scowl.

"We're some of the first outsiders to ever be graced with the privilege of entering an Airbender temple," Azula sighed, "and you're still pouting about how you couldn't do your hair the traditional way?"

"Tradition is a part of a Firebender's honor," Zuko insisted, "and honor is very important to me."

"Hey!" Aang called. "Look, this is where my sister Airbenders taught me to do sky bison races! And inside there's a giant Pai Sho table! And an all-day echo chamber! And…."

Azula noticed Aang pause and frown. "What is it?" she asked.

"This place used to be crawling with Airbender nuns," Aang explained. "I had never seen so many girls before. Well, technically I hadn't seen any girls before, because the Southern Temple is monks-only, just like this place was nuns-only, at least until I showed up. The point is, now there's…nobody. It's so quiet. It doesn't feel right." He stared into the distance contemplatively, unable to believe how much things had changed.

"So," Zuko said, trying to change the subject – and make up for how his babble about the importance of tradition must have stung to Aang, whose entire culture's traditions had been wiped out-, "how do bison races work?"

"Well, I can't really show you," Aang frowned, "because to have a race, you have to have two bison."

"Oh."

"But," Aang said, brightening, "I can show you how to play Giant Pai Sho!"

"Ok," Zuko agreed, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Uncle and I used to play Pai Sho all the time, so I'd love to see how the giant version is different."

The giant version wound up being far more physically taxing. Zuko had to push bison-sized tiles across the board, which was the size of a ball court. Aang explained that traditionally, the tiles were blown across the board using Airbending- which meant he, of course, had no problem playing a few rounds without getting tired.

"Making him feel better is making me feel exhausted," Zuko sighed as he pushed the tiles back into their enormous storage container. At the edge of the container, his golden eyes alighted on something hidden under a bit of rubble, and he gasped. "Azula!" he hissed, showing her discreetly.

It was a navy-colored scrap of parka – the kind that was regulation for the Water Tribe Armada.

"Aang!" Azula called. "I have something you must see."

"Ok," Aang smiled brightly, skipping across the giant game board. Azula felt a twinge somewhere in her chest when she saw the bright innocence in his eyes. He was just starting to feel happier again.

Impulsively, she snatched the blue uniform scrap from Zuko and burned it to ash with her Firebending before Aang could see. Zuko shot her a disapproving look.

"What did you want to show me?" Aang asked, reaching the other end of the board where they stood.

"Just how big of a fire I can make," Azula lied. "I really think I'm a natural, don't you?"

"Yeah, your bending skills are awesome," Aang agreed, "but come on, we have a lot of temple to see."

"R-right," Azula said shakily.

As Aang wandered off, Azula turned back to Zuko and whispered, "Don't you dare tell him."

"Azula, you can't always lie," Zuko chided. "He'll find out the truth eventually."

"Shut up," Azula snapped. "I'm a good liar. I can stop him from finding out."

"The Water Tribe was here," Zuko shook his head. "Hiding it won't make that go away."

"If Aang finds out the Water Tribe invaded the Temple he ran to for safety," Azula argued, "the truth could kill him. Imagine how guilty he'll feel when he finds out that the Water Tribe only came here because he was here, instead of at home."

"Hey!" Aang cried, interrupting the Firebenders' argument. "I want to show you guys my old quarters! The nuns had to build a separate room just for me and my mentor, Monk Gyatso. He came here with me when I left the Southern Air Temple and went into hiding. He was super great – he taught me everything I know."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

A memory surfaced in Aang's mind.

"Aang, Mother Superior has taught me a great and ancient secret!" Gyatso smiled. "The secret to her famous cake recipe!"

"Great," Aang said, but his monotone voice made it obvious that he didn't mean it.

"Is something heavier than cake on your mind?" Gyatso asked.

"I guess I'm just homesick," Aang sighed. "I mean, the nuns are nice, but I miss the monks. I miss the Southern Air Temple. Did we really have to leave? Could this whole Avatar thing have been just a mistake?"

"The only mistake," Gyatso frowned, "was telling you the truth at such a young age. Most Avatars are not informed of their destiny until the age of sixteen."

"If I didn't know," Aang disagreed, "Then I wouldn't understand why we had to move. Well, actually I still don't totally understand. The abbot said we had to come here to keep me safe. But, who would want to hurt me, Gyatso? What's going on?"

"Don't you worry about that," Gyatso shook his head. "You are a child. You deserve to focus on having fun. You will be told all you need to know when the time comes."

"But what if when the time does come," Aang protested, "I'm not ready?"

"You will be," Gyatso assured him. "When you are old enough, you will learn everything you need to know in the Air Temple Sanctuary. Ideally, we would do this at the Southern Temple, but worry not. This temple has a sanctuary, too. Inside, you will meet someone who will help you on your journey."

"Who is it?" Aang asked eagerly.

"When you are ready," Gyatso promised, "he will reveal himself to you."

"He?" Aang blinked. "I thought we were the only monks at this temple."

"You'll see when it's time," Gyatso laughed. "Now, are you going to help me with these cakes, or not?"

"Alright," Aang smiled.

Together, they Airbended the cakes on to the veiled head of the stuck-up Mother Superior, who was meditating beneath the balcony where they stood. "Ugh…men!" they heard her shout disapprovingly. "I should have never let them in to this convent!" They laughed uproariously, ignoring her.

"Your aim has improved, my young pupil," Gyatso chuckled merrily, his smile as big as the sun above.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"You must miss him," Azula said sympathetically.

"I do," Aang agreed, before turning suddenly and heading down a corridor, deeper into the bowels of the Temple.

"Where are you going?" Azula asked.

"The Sanctuary," Aang decided. "There's someone I'm ready to meet."

Azula glanced back at Zuko, who simply shrugged, and the Firebender siblings followed the Avatar down the Temple's winding stone halls.

"But, Aang," Azula warned, as they filed into a chamber which an ornately carved door at its end, "No person could have survived in there for a hundred years."

"It's possible," Aang contended. "I mean, I survived in a ball of volcanic rock for a hundred years."

"True," Azula admitted, but her skepticism was still evident in her golden eyes.

"Maybe whoever's in there can help me figure out this whole Avatar thing," Aang said optimistically.

"And maybe they have some cloth I could use to tie up my topknot with and restore honor to my hair," Zuko added eagerly.

"You're a little obsessed with this honor thing, aren't you?" Aang said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up," Zuko flushed, before attempting to open the door. It refused to unlock for him. "Do you have a key?" he asked.

"The key, Zuko," Aang smiled, "is Airbending." He bended air into two funnels on either side of the door, which blew open the locks with a whistling tune. The door swung open.

"Hello?" Aang called into the darkness before stepping into the Sanctuary.

Azula and Zuko followed him cautiously into the unknown.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"So," Pakku sneered, "a 12-year-old boy bested you and every Waterbender and warrior under your command?"

"Look, I underestimated him once, okay?" Sokka protested. "It won't happen again."

"I won't give you another chance for it to happen again," Pakku snapped. "Capturing the Avatar is a duty that should never have been given to a non-bender in the first place."

"The Water Lord himself is a non-bender!" Sokka argued.

"And he has proven himself," Pakku countered. "You have not. I say this Southern dynasty is growing weak. Perhaps a Northerner should rule next."

"You know as well as I do," Sokka growled, "that prior to the start of the Hundred Year War, my ancestor, the last Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, conquered his sister tribe to the North and created the Unified Water Tribe. He took the title Lord to show how his power was greater than the former Chiefs of the South and North. He claimed undisputed rule of both poles for himself and his descendants. To dispute the sovereignty of his great dynasty, I'll remind you, is treason."

"And is it treason, too," Pakku asked, glaring, "to point out that, regardless of bending status, you are still a mere child, without the wisdom necessary to complete such an important mission?"

"Well, you're just a grumpy old man, without the common sense necessary to realize talking like that is going to get you a boomerang to the FREAKING HEAD!" Sokka cried, lashing out with his weapon exactly as he had said, but two braves held him back, denying him the chance to strike.

"Keep him here," Pakku ordered, exiting the lodge.

Sokka glared at Pakku's men , filled with rage.

"You could at least," Bato sighed, "bring us a new pipe."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the Sanctuary, Aang found a thousand eerie statues hewn from stone.

"That's it?" Zuko grumbled. "Nothing here can help me honor my ancestors."

"Nobody cares about your honor, Zuko," Azula snapped before turning her attention to Aang. "Who are these people depicted in the statues?"

"I'm not sure," Aang confessed. "But, I feel like I know them somehow."

Azula noticed a pattern in the statues' placement. "They start with an Airbender statue, and then go Water, then Earth, then Fire," she noticed. "Except for these last four on the end – they break the pattern and go Air, Fire, Earth, Water."

"Like the Avatar Cycle," Aang realized. "Gyatso told me that for reasons nobody really understands, a miracle occurred after the death of Avatar Yangchen and the cycle changed. Instead of a Waterbender being born next, it was a Firebender, like you, Azula! And then an Earthbender, and a Waterbender."

"These statues," Azula realized, "must be Avatars. They are your past lives, Aang."

"Wow," Aang gasped in wonder. "There's so many of them…."

"Wait," Zuko realized. "If the Cycle really changed, then doesn't that mean that the Avatar directly before Aang was a Waterbender?"

Aang stared at the statue at the end of the row. It depicted a bearded man in the traditional garb of the Northern Water Tribe, with the skin of a polar bear (surely the spoil of a hunt) on his head. As he stared into the statue's eyes, he seemed to go into a trance.

"Aang!" Azula called, and the Airbender snapped out of it immediately. "Who is he?" she asked, looking at the statue warily.

"Avatar Kuruk," Aang recognized. "Zuko's right – he was the Avatar before me."

"No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met," Zuko scowled. For a moment, Azula, too, suddenly felt suspicious. Waterbenders were evil. She had thought for so long that every last one of them should be burned out of this world, lest they destroy it completely. How could innocent little Aang have been one of them? No, she shook her head. Whoever his past life was, Aang is completely different.

"There's no label on the statue," Azula noticed once her unsettling feelings had past, raising an eyebrow. "How did you know his name, Aang?" Had his teachers glorified a member of that loathsome Tribe? How much did she know, really, about this strange boy's beliefs?

"I don't know how I know," Aang admitted. "I just….do."

"Strange," Zuko said, arms crossed. Then, he heard a noise, and shoved Azula and Aang behind a pair of statues before hiding himself. From his vantage point, he could see a shadow looming closer and closer to them.

"A Waterbender?" he guessed, igniting a ball of fire in his palm. "Stay hidden," he warned.

"I don't want to stay hidden!" Azula whispered back. "If a Waterbender is here, I want to fight him!"

The shadow grew even closer and Aang felt his heart pounding – he didn't want either of the Fire Nation siblings to be forced to defend him. Taking a deep breath, his hands shaking, he peered over the top of one of the statues and saw…..

…..A flying lemur, with a scrap of cloth – who knows where he had come by that? – stuck on one of his ears.

"LEMUR!" Aang cried delightedly.

"Cloth!" Zuko cried with more subdued glee.

"I wanna catch it!" Aang suggested.

"I just want to get the cloth off of it and put it in my hair," Zuko disagreed.

Both leapt at the beast, which scurried away hastily. The two boys gave chase.

"If I can catch a fire ferret," Aang laughed, "I can catch one of these!"

"Not if I catch it first!" Zuko said competitively.

The lemur soared out of the temple halls into the courtyard, then down the side of the cliff. Aang got on his glider and soared after it. As the lemur flew, the bit of cloth fell off its ear into the abyss.

"Now I'll never be able to fix my hair the traditional way," Zuko sighed from the plateau where the temple stood.

"That's alright, brother," Azula laughed, catching up to him. "I think your hair looks better down anyway."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Pakku strode back into the lodge where he'd imprisoned Sokka and Bato. "I will be resuming the search for the Avatar," he announced. "Once I have left on my ship and begun the mission, my braves will let you go."

"What's the matter, old man?" Sokka smirked. "Afraid I'm going to catch the Avatar before you?"

"Impossible," Pakku dismissed.

"You don't know who you're dealing with, Gramp-Gramp," Sokka challenged.

"Gramp-Gramp?" Pakku repeated. "How dare you! You are just a banished prince, with no home, not even the blessing of Bending! I have studied the art of Waterbending for longer than you have been alive! My skills are at least double that of a warrior like you, who can only shake a stick! I am infinitely more qualified to capture the Avatar than a whippersnapper such as yourself! Even your father knows it to be true – your standing in the tribe shall never equal my own!"

"You're wrong!" Sokka snapped. "When I capture the Avatar, my dad will welcome me back into the tribe, with all the standing his heir deserves!"

"You will never be his heir," Pakku mocked. "If your father really intended to trust you with the leadership of the tribe, he would have let you come home by now – Avatar or no Avatar. But he sees that you are weak, and that the tribe needs a real man to be his successor. Someone more like me."

"I am a real man!" Sokka argued.

"You are a boy," Pakku snorted derisively. "You can wear war paint like a man of the tribe, but underneath it will always be the scars that prove you are a coward."

"Keep it up," Sokka seethed, "and I won't be the only one with scars!"

"Is that a challenge?" Pakku asked.

"A Varuna Kai," Sokka said officially. "At moonrise."

"My power will only grow when the moon rises," Pakku reminded. "Varuna Kai are typically between two Waterbenders, or two braves armed with cermemonial daggers made of whale bone. A Varuna Kai between a Waterbender and a non-bender is unheard of."

"You're the one who said that being a Bender makes you better than me," Sokka recalled. "So why are you too scared to accept my challenge? Who's the coward now?"

"I am no coward," Pakku replied. "And therefore, I will accept your challenge. But, I warn you I will not go easy on you just because you can't Bend back."

"Good," Sokka said, his eyes narrowed. "I won't go easy on you either, just because you're an old fart."

"Such cheek!" Pakku scolded. "You'll learn to stop being so sarcastic to your elders once I destroy you in the ring. I wish your father could see me show you how weak you truly are – but I suppose your mentor will do." He stormed out of the lodge, certain of his victory.

"Prince Sokka," Bato breathed. "Have you forgotten what happened last time you challenged a tribal elder?"

"I will never forget," Sokka whispered, the pain of memory in his eyes.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Back at the Western Air Temple, the lemur still evaded Aang's grasp. He'd chased it halfway down the cliff side by now, and gotten off the glider, resorting to climbing in order to continue his pursuit.

"Come back, buddy," he laughed, scaling a rock face, "I won't hurt you – let's be friends!"

The lemur dashed into a hidden cave, and Aang crawled in after it. The tunnel ended in a wide cavern, where Aang stood. When he looked into the cavern, his eyes widened in shock and horror and he fell to his knees.

Before him were a dozen rotted corpses clad in blue and white, boomerangs and spears still in their skeletal hands. And in the middle of the circle of fallen braves was the bleached-white bones of a man in the garb of an Airbender monk. The only monks to ever visit the Western Air Temple were Aang and…..

"Gyatso," Aang gasped with sick realization, tears stinging his grey eyes. "No….You….You were supposed to be safe from the Water Tribe here…."

Zuko crawled into the cave just as Aang began to sob with grief. "Hey, you don't have to feel bad for losing the cloth," Zuko said softly, misunderstanding the source of Aang's pain. "Azula fixed my hair so it looks better down, and – Oh man." His eyes at last fell upon Gyato's withered corpse. He drew back in horror, and then his horror only increased and he gasped when he saw Aang's eyes and tattooes suddenly glow the eeriest shade of blue.

Back in the hall of statues, where she had returned to look for tools to further style her brother's hair, Azula, too, gasped as she saw the eyes of the statue of Avatar Kuruk glow blindingly blue, as well. Suddenly, the eyes of every statue in the Sanctuary were glowing!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Far away at the North Pole, a Water Tribe shamaness stared reflectively into the sacred pool where Tui and La swam. Suddenly, the waters began to bubble and glow. The shamaness gasped.

"The Avatar has returned!" she announced to the shaman beside her. "Inform the Water Lord at once!"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Whirling winds howled around Aang, who seemed not to hear Zuko's pleas for him to calm down, to stop this. A sphere of wind lifted him out of the cave and into the sky. Zuko ran to the cave's mouth, staring slack-jawed at the Airbender and wondering what had come over him.

Azula rushed over suddenly. "What has happened?" she cried, her raven hair dancing wildly in the gale the Avatar had created.

"I told you he'd find out the truth!" Zuko shouted over the roaring winds. "He saw that the Water Tribe killed Gyatso!"

Azula frowned. Surely, she thought, this ferocious bending Aang was displaying was the power of the Avatar spirit. If he could use such power against the Water Tribe….she thought. They would be unstoppable.

"You have to do something!" Zuko cried. "Whatever this is, I think it's hurting him!"

Azula felt ashamed for even thinking about the military applications of Aang's power. Her friend was grieving, and angry, and as useful as the state he was now in could be, it was wrong to leave him like this. She had to help him. "I'm going in!" she warned Zuko. "If I fail, use your Firebending to make him stop!"

"Don't you dare fail, Azula!" Zuko responded, stricken.

"Trust me," Azula vowed, "I won't let it come to that."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

As the crescent moon shone in the sky, Pakku stripped off his parka, revealing a sleeveless blue tunic and a surprising amount of muscle for a man of his age. He uncapped the gourd full of water on his belt, certain that his Waterbending would finish that no-good non-bender prince in an instant.

As Sokka, too, removed his parka, baring his toned arms and shoulders, he took the ceremonial whale-bone dagger Bato handed him. He would have preferred his boomerang, but tradition was tradition.

"Fight with wisdom," Bato advised. "Not merely with strength. Do not let your impulsiveness get the best of you, Prince Sokka."

"I won't," Sokka promised. "There's no way I'll let that geezer win."

"Let's do this!" he shouted to Pakku. A horn made of shell sounded, and the Varuna Kai began.

Sokka launched at the elder man, slashing with his blade. Pakku dodged effortlessly and Sokka dashed towards him, aiming another strike at his body. Again, Pakku twisted out of his grasp.

Sokka breathed deeply and then launched a flying kick at Pakku's bald head. Pakku evaded him once more, and Bended a wave of water at Sokka's face. Sokka dodged the wave, which splashed uselessly to the ground.

"Wisdom, Prince Sokka, wisdom!" Bato reminded. "Break his flow!"

Pakku Waterbended another stream at Sokka, and another, and another. Sokka jumped back, avoiding each wave. But then Pakku sent another jet of water streaming towards Sokka's middle. Sokka dodged, but not well enough, and the water puddled at his feet, causing him to slip and fall to the ground.

Taking advantage of the opening, Pakku summoned a wicked sharp shard of ice and leapt toward Sokka with stabbing intent. Heart pounding, Sokka deflected the ice with his dagger, leaping to his feet and challenging Pakku, ice-blade to bone-blade. He smirked as his dagger connected with the ice, causing it to crack and break. He'd gotten the upper hand.

He slashed at Pakku's hand, which the old man was still staring at, dumb-founded that his ice had shattered, and the elder had to dodge quickly to avoid the drawing of his blood. Sokka advanced again, relentless, and once again Pakku dodged just in time. Sokka sent another kick in Pakku's direction, and the man nearly tripped and fell trying to avoid the hit. Sokka kicked again, and this time his foot struck true, slamming right into Pakku's nose and making blood drip from it as he fell to the ground.

He pointed the tip of his dagger at the old man's neck.

"Do it," Pakku hissed.

Sokka raised his dagger and brought it down with all his strength, stabbing….the ground beside Pakku's head.

"Tch," Pakku scowled. "You are a coward."

"Next time you get in my way," Sokka swore, "I won't be so merciful, old man." He turned away, refusing to acknowledge the Waterbender any longer.

As soon as the prince's back was turned, the tribal elder shot another shard of ice at Sokka's back.

Bato leapt between them, knocking the ice way with his boomerang and throwing it back into the face of Pakku, who skittered out of the way pathetically on the ground. Sokka raised his dagger furiously.

"No, Prince Sokka," Bato held him back. "Don't taint your victory by giving in to the impulse to get back at him. Water is the element of calm."

"So," Bato glared, turning to Pakku, "you call my student a coward, and then this is how you act when defeated? Aim a craven blow at the back of a man so that he cannot defend himself?" He spat disdainfully. "If you were as strong as you say, you would not fear an opponent who could strike back. Disgraceful. Even in exile, my prince deserves far greater a place in the tribe than you."

"Thanks again for the pipe," Bato added graciously as he turned with Sokka to leave. "The sea plum leaves smelled wonderful."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Did you really mean that?" Sokka asked, shrugging his parka back on as they walked back to their brand-new ship in the pale moonlight.

"Yes it's true," Bato smiled, "I do love sea plums."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Aang," Azula called out over the raging gust swirling around them, "I know losing your family is devastating. I know because I lost my mother, and my cousin. When the Water Tribe took them from me, I wanted revenge. I still do. But I know I can't have that if I lose myself in my emotion. To avenge my loved ones, I have to be calm. It's only when you're calm that you'll have the wisdom to strike and win, Aang! If you lose yourself to your rage, you won't be able to destroy the Water Tribe – you'll only destroy yourself!"

"You're not alone, Aang!" Azula continued. "We're united in our quest to fight the Water Tribe and win! You don't have to carry this burden by yourself! Zuko and I, we'll carry it with you! We're a team – a family!"

Somehow, her words seemed to begin to reach Aang, and the winds slowed as he slowly came back down to solid ground. Azula and Zuko ran to him.

"I'll protect you until you can finish the Water Tribe and avenge Gyatso," Zuko vowed. "I'll make sure you and Azula reach your goal. After all, it's my goal, too."

The strange blue light disappeared from Aang's eyes, and when he opened them again, they were grey and tired. He stumbled, but Azula caught him in her arms. "I'm sorry," Aang whispered weakly.

"It's alright," Azula told him. "I understand why you reacted the way you did."

"But you were right," Aang said sadly. "If the Water Tribe managed to get here, then they could have gotten to all the Air Temples. They could have gotten to the Southern Air Temple, where I was born, and to everyone in it. I really am…..the last Airbender….."

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Hours later, Aang stared contemplatively into the eyes of the statue of Avatar Kuruk.

"We've packed," Azula told him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ready to leave?"

"How," Aang wondered, "is Kuruk supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?"

"You will find a way," Azula said determinedly. Aang nodded.

Suddenly, they heard a skittering sound behind them, and the lemur from before appeared, dropping a bit of cloth at Zuko's feet.

"Where did you find that?" Zuko asked the small creature, smiling.

"Need me to help you put it in your hair?" Azula asked.

"No," Zuko decided. "I don't need it. I realized… honor isn't about how you look. It's how you act."

"You're right," Azula agreed, "besides…our ancestors lost the throne. We shouldn't try to be like them. I think the best way to honor them is to forge a new path. Somehow, I feel like a new age is about to dawn."

"I think you're right," Zuko agreed.

The lemur jumped onto Aang's back. "Hey, little guy," Aang greeted. "Y'know, I think he does want to be my friend after all."

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"You, Appa, and I," Aang whispered to the lemur as he put the last pack on Appa's saddle, "are all that's left of the Air Nomads. We've got to stick together, ok?" He smiled with a determined look in his eye. "Azula! Zuko! Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," the pair called, trotting over. Zuko held a bag of (normal-sized) Pai Sho tiles he'd found under one arm. The lemur leapt over and stole a tile bearing the symbol of a peach blossom. Zuko faked a pout.

"What do you intend to name him?" Azula asked, indicating the lemur, who flew back to Aang's shoulder.

"Momo," Aang decided. The trio laughed.

Later, as they sailed above the cliffs, leaving the inverted towers of the Western Air Temple behind them, Aang looked back thoughtfully. He tried to tell himself that Azula was right – that the past did indeed belong in the past.


End file.
